Writing, Writing, Everywhere

The other day we went to pick Lizzy up from a play date.  The kids were outside playing with chalk, and Peter and Catherine quickly joined in.  Later, as I was piling everyone into the car, I noticed what Peter had been working on.  Wow!  What awesome writing!  I love that he is becoming so aware of letters, and so interested in writing.  It's awesome.  He is certainly ready for Kindergarten this fall.

Grandparents' Day

We are so, so lucky we have such special Grandparents.  They drove for hours to spend the morning with Lizzy at her school for Grandparents' Day.  They visited her classroom where she got to show them all around.  After, we all went to church, and heard a wonderful service from Father Edward.  How thankful we are for our Grandparents!  What joy it is to spend time together, laughing and playing, just enjoying one another.  I am so thankful for the calm, steadfast strength and support we always get from our dear Grandparents.  I'm so thankful my kids get to spend so much time with them, and that they love them so much.  What a gift!

A Mommy Sighting!

We went to the park the other day with our friend, Charlie.  After playing for a while, he asked me, Peter, and Catherine if we would sit down on this bench and he would take our picture.  Later, when I looked at the pictures, I was so pleasantly surprised.  Not only did he capture everyone smiling, but I even got to be in a picture for once.  How fun!  See kids!  You do actually have a mommy.

Girl With A Curl

Maybe these will stick........who knows?  But regardless, they are really adorable right now.  I love Catherine's soft, sweet curls.  I love to stroke her baby hair, and feel it's gentleness and softness.  I had an epiphany while doing this the other day, "Wow!  A mother literally loves every hair on their child's head!"  And, it's true!  We do!  Even Peter will often say, "I love Catherine's little curls, mommy."  So sweet!

Baby Show-Off

Whenever we drop Lizzy off at school, Peter, Catherine and I wait a few minutes until the bell rings to say good-bye.  Peter and I usually hang back, trying to give the kids a little space.  Catherine, on the other hand, runs right over to the kids where she is scooped up and fawned over.  She loves every minute of it.  Often Lizzy will run over to us, pick up Catherine, and bring her over to the benches where her classmates are waiting.  A group of little girls will immediately gather around, ooing and ahing over Catherine, begging to get a chance to hold her, and smiling and playing with her.  It's hard to tell who is  loving this more.  Lizzy absolutely loves getting to show off her baby, and Catherine, of course, loves all her adoring fans.  It's pretty amazing to see a group of little girls with a baby.  They are like a group of tiny mothers, transfixed by the wonder of the baby, dying for a chance to snuggle with her and take care of her.  I love to see Lizzy so proud of her little baby, so excited to show her off to her friends.  And I'm so amazed by Catherine.  She spreads such joy to everyone around her.  Her love is contagious.

The Cutest Shadow

Toddling little babies are perhaps one of the very cutest things ever!  I love watching Catherine walking all over, exploring her world.  She's so happy going for walks!  Seeing her little shadow prancing along  beside her is one of my very favorite things.

Little Reader

Lizzy is such a reader now, it's awesome!  My dream for her, and all the kids, is that they will love books so much that they will want to curl up with one on their own and get lost in a story.  I love when I find Lizzy on the couch, or laying on her bed, quietly reading to herself.  It makes my heart smile every time!  We still take time to read together every night, which is precious time that I treasure with her, but it's also so fabulous to see her really beginning to enjoy books.

Eat Up, Cars

Do you know where cars go when they're hungry?  To a car restaurant, of course.  Thank goodness Peter constructed one for the cars in our house.  Now, no one will go hungry.  There's a long wait, that's for sure, but once they're in, they can even enjoy a meal outside on the patio.  Pretty great ambiance I think.

Two Little Monkeys

After school, sometimes we like to linger for a little bit to play around the garden by school.  On these lovely sunny afternoons, who wouldn't want just a few moments more to enjoy the newly blossoming flowers and all that glorious sunshine?  Lizzy and Peter like to climb the big tree by church and relax for a little bit.  Oh, how fun to climb a tree on a sunny afternoon!

Basketball Buddies

You can tell that Peter is getting ready to start Kindergarten soon, because he has this new found confidence and maturity about him that is so awesome to see.  Almost every day I find myself amazed at how capable and independent he's become.  It's so wonderful to see him blossoming into this fantastic little boy, so comfortable in his own skin.  Every Wednesday night we take Lizzy to basketball practice.  Sometimes various brothers of the players are hanging around, and the coaches are so good-natured they let them join in.  Peter had always hung on the outskirts, perfectly happy to just watch from the sidelines.  The last time we took Lizzy, Peter decided he was ready to join in.  Wow!  He was amazing.  He followed everything the coaches were saying, and was right in there with the girls playing his little heart out.  I was so very proud of him!  And thank goodness for darling Lizzy, who immediately took him under her wing and made sure he was right next to her following along.  I just love getting to watch these two together, getting so very big and so very, very capable!

Lunch Bunch Buddies

Peter gets to stay later at school once a week for "lunch bunch."  It's so awesome!  A small group of children get to stay one extra hour to eat lunch and do a special activity with the teacher.  He loves every part of it, and you can tell it makes him feel like a real "big guy."  It's a little tricky for Catherine, because it pushes into her nap time, and she often doesn't get a great rest that day.  One day, we were running so behind, that I had to wake her up and take her to school and just bring her lunch with us.  It turns out Catherine was totally fine with that.  In fact, Peter's not the only one who likes to eat lunch at school.  Catherine marched right in, sat at the table, and enjoyed her own private lunch bunch with Peter.  What a big boy and big girl we have on our hands.

Cart Buddies

One way to watch the evolution of your family is how they fit in a shopping cart.  I remember being so thrilled when Lizzy was strong enough to sit up by herself in the front of the shopping cart at Safeway. She was so adorable looking all around, and I felt like a "real mom" pushing my baby around buying my groceries.  It wasn't too long before Peter was here, and Lizzy would have absolutely nothing to do with the cart.  I had to practically tie her down, but on those rare, sweet occasions, I could talk those two into sitting next to each other in the front, I was in heaven watching those two little birdies in their nest, smiling at each other and content to be together.  When Catherine came, Lizzy and Peter were far to big, in their estimation, to sit in a shopping cart.  Now, Catherine usually sits up front, and Lizzy and Peter are either hanging off the side of the cart, walking next to me, or running around me somewhere.  On a recent trip to Costco, I somehow corralled everyone into the cart- girls up front and Peter in the back "helping" me organize the food.  Lizzy barely squeezed in next to Catherine, but there was something pretty sweet about having everybody in the cart, giggling and smiling together.

Rainy Day Special

And just like that.....the weather has turned and we're back to rainy days.  We don't let a little rain stop us, though.  We decided to visit a fun indoor play place with some of our favorite buddies, Connor and Reagan.  It's so funny how times have changed and the "little" kids are now so big, and even the "babies" are getting so big, loving being a part of everything.  I remember when Connor and Peter were just the little guys with Lizzy and Trevor.  Now, they're the ones leading things.  They are busy, busy, busy, running around like maniacs, totally engrossed in their imaginary games and loving every minute of it.  Reagan and Catherine work really hard to keep up.  The big boys are so adorable with their little sisters, and it's so fun to see these four together.

Papa's Girl

We all love Catherine a whole lot, but I think she may have one extra-special admirer.  Papa is pretty taken with her, and the feelings are completely mutual.  Get these two together and there's a whole bunch of snuggles and smiles.  They are two pretty cute peas-in-a-pod.

Winter Beach Day

We're pretty spoiled in California, and we know it.  While much of the country is buried in snow, we've got sunny skies.  Grandma Susan wanted to come over and watch the kids play basketball, but we didn't have any games that day.  So we all decided a beach day was in order since it was so gorgeous outside.  We drove to Half Moon Bay and hit up our favorite deli.  We ate in the garden and the kids loved running all around and playing.  Pat had brought the Frisbee and baseball mitts and played around with the kids.  Then we went to the beach.  What a day!  It was warm, but not too warm, sunny and clear, just perfect for exploring.  Lizzy and Peter threw on their suits and were quickly dancing around in the water.  Catherine loved joining them.  At first she was confused by how cold the water was, but then she absolutely loved playing around in the surf.  The kids loved having such a special day with Grandma Susan.  I never get tired of beach combing and wave dashing with all my little friends.

Tea With My Valentines

My Valentines Day may have been a little low on romance, but it sure made up for it in cuteness.  Pat had to work that night (bummer, but he made up for it with gorgeous white roses and my favorite chocolates), so I was running solo with the kids.  They were so excited after a fun day of sharing Valentines with friends, that we decided to keep the party going.  We created our own Valentines tea party.  The kids helped me make the table look extra special with candlelight and cute decorations, and then we created our meal together- heart-shaped sandwiches, fruit, crackers, and candy.  Um..... I'm not sure it was the most nutritious of meals, but it did the trick, and put us all in the Valentine spirit.  Afterwards, we put on some of our favorite music and danced and danced.  Peter kept saying, "Mommy, I think this is the best Valentines Day ever!"  He may have been right.  It was a pretty great day.